Game-board.



B. G. BRAINE.

GAME BOARD.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 15, 1911.

1,009,018. n Patented Nov. 14, 1911'.

'2 SHEETS-SHEET 1. 59.1.

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Amt" M www). by y Atty B. G. BRAINE.

GAME BOARD.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 15, 1911.

Patented Nov. 14, 1911.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

, .Toall whomA it may concern; i

UNITED STATES li1/urina oFFICE- iuncaorr e. BRAINn or NEW Yoax, N. Y.'f

V @AME-Beam).

' Bpeciilcation of Letters Patent.

i Patented Nov. 14,19'111.

Application led August 15, 1911. Serial No. 844,244.v

Be it known that I, BANcnor'r G. BRAINE, a citizen of the United States,residing at New York city, county of New York, and State of New York,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Garne- Boards,fully described and represented in the following .specification and thevaccompanying drawings, forming apart of the Same v This inventionrelates to a playing card game board.

The invention has been made especially with the idea of providing a gameboard` which may be conveniently used in the solv.

Pocket chess boards have been made heretofore. similar in some respectsto 'the game board of this invention, but such chess boards are notadaptedfor the purpose of the board of the present invention. The gameboard of the. present invention is adapted for use in playing or workingout various playing card gamesfand problems, and the invention includesfeatures of construction and arrangement of the boardl itself andrelates also to the cards or indicators used in connection with theboard tov represent the various .cards of a deck of playing cards. y

A full understanding of the invention can best be given' by a detaileddescription of' preferred constructions embodying the various featuresof the invention, and such a description will nowl be given inconnection with the accompanying drawings, in which,

Figure 1 is a face or plan view of a game board m'ade in accordance withthe invention, opened out for playing, Fig. 2 ifs asection taken' online 2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a detail sectional view taken on line 3' ofFig.

1 enlarged above the size that the'board will` be usually made. Fig. 4is a face or plan view of aboard of modified construction;-

Fig. is a broken section on line 5 of Fig. 4. Fig. 6 is a much enlargeddetail sectional i view taken on line 6-of Fig. 4. 7 is a front or faceview and Fig. 8 a back-view of a card or indicator vsuch as ispreferably employed with the board shown 1n Figs. 1 to 3. Fig. 9 is afacetview of one form of card or indicating device for use with the11.4-

board shown in Figs. 4 to 6. Fig. 10 shows in face and Fig. 11insectional View another form of card for use with the `board shown iiFigs. 4 to 6.v Fig. 12 shows-one of the p a shown in Figs. 4 to 6.

Referring first to Figs. 1 to 3, the board 10 Ais formed of a sheet orsheets 1of leather or other suitable material secured to a'suitindicators to be used on the board able support or back.Preferablyand as f shown, the board* is formed of twoflat parts -orsections arranged to fold together along a central hinge line, thebackor body port1on belng formed of two sheets or boards 11, l1 of'suitable stifmateriaLIsuch as stili.

paper board, leather, or other suitable mate- 1 rial, secured togetherat their adjacent edges by the covering material Aor otherwise so as toform a hinge -as indicated at 12, and each section of the back carryinga sheet 13 of leather or other suitable material which sheets 13 formthe face of the board. The board will be opened out as shown inFigs. land 2 for use and may be folded" with the face of the board insidewhennot in use or for carrying about. The face of the board-is formedwith four groups of lcard-holding slots 15for receiving .the cards ofthefour hands usually involved, in playing card problems. slots arearranged preferably as shown, that is. with two opposite `groups forreceiving cards representing partners hands arranged one at the right-hand side ofthe board and one at the left hand side of the boa-rd, andwith the other two groups lfor receiving the Icards representing thehands of the op- -ponent vpartners arranged one near `the top and onenear the bottom of theboard. The slots of each group are arranged infourrows or series, one for each suit, and each row will have a suitablenumber of slots, preferably four or more. In arranging the lThese groups`-of card-holding' Y cards of each hand, in the corresponding group ofslots, the cards of each suit will be placed in the slots of the rowintended to receive that suit. With sixteen slots in each group, that isfour slots in0 each ofthe -four rows, t-here will always be an excessnumber of slots vfor each hand so that if a hand number shown is foundto meet all require- The four hands are commonly referred to as diamondsand the bottom row .for spades, as 50 the slots being formed adjacenttothe lower lthe board maybe of any suitable form and w markingdesired.' The bo-ard shown is inof substantially the shape shown, thatis, ofI

towhich the card belongs, and also with a should hold more than.fourvcards of anyone suit the excess cards of that suit may be placed inone of the rows of slots intended for one of the other suits. A greaternumber, of slots may be provided, but the ments and avoids unnecessaryenlargement Y of the board. In addition to the card-holdmg slots l5, thecardI ositions f or eac'h' group may be marked o ,or otherwise 1nd1cated on the board in any suitable manner, and I prefer to mark the cardpositions by lines forming. groups of squares, as shown,

line of each square-so that when a card inserted in a slot its 'exposedportlon will 11e over the space within the proper square.

As hand, Bs hand, Ys hand and Zs hand respectively, and the groups ofcard positions and holding slots may beso marked as shown. For each cardposition there is also provided as shown in these figures an additionalcard slot 16 extending at right angles, to the slot 15, so that when acard is inserted in any slot 16 its exposed portion will be over thesame card position as when the card is inserted in the corresponding`slot 15. When the card positions are marked by groups of squares, asshown, the verticall slot for each square will lie adjacent to one ofthe side lines. `It will usually be most con* venient to have thevertical slots arranged adjacent to the left hand side lines of thesquares so that the cards when placed in these slots may be insertedfrom the right, but for left handed users the vert-ical slots may bearranged adjacent to the right hand side lines of the squares, so thatthe cards may be inserted from` the left. Adjacent to each horizontal,or suit, row 'of each group of card positions Vand slots there may beprinted or otherwise applied to the face of the board the suit mark orsymbol to indicate theI suit to which the row is assigned.v The top rowof slots and positions will preferably be used for cards of the heartsuit, the,next row for clubs, the next for indicated by the symbols asthey appear on the drawings.

The cards or indicators to be used with tended, however, for the use ofcards or indicators' 17 of pasteboard or other suitable thin sheetmaterial, such as celluloid, and

general oblongl shape with o-ne end wedgeshaped to enter the holdingslots. The por-l tion of the card which remains exposed when the wedgeshaped end is inserted in any one of the slots is marked on the faceside with the mark or symbol of the suit the particular card of thesuit.

number or letter or other mark indicating- The backs of the cards arepreferably marked with lines extending lengthwise of the card, orotherwise marked so th'ai; when the card is inserted face inward in anyone of' the holding slots the marking on the back will indicate at aglance whether the card has been inserted in.a horizontal slot or'in avertical slot.

In using the game board for working out a lbridge or other playing card,problem, for example, the cards 'or indicators of each hand will beplaced in horizontal slots of the groupcorresponding to that hand, thecards of each suit being arranged in the proper horizontal row of thegroup. When a card is played it is removed from its slot and reversedand put back in the same slot or in the corresponding side or verticalslot. The placing of the cards when reversed in either tlie bottomhorizontal or side vertical slots serves to indicate whether a trick wastaken by A and B or by Y and Z, the placing of the reversed cards backin the horizontal slotsindicating that the trickl was taken by Y and Z,and the placing of the reversed cards in the side slots that the trickwas taken by A and B. The tricks may be thus tallied by all four hands.or by the cards of only one of the four hands. For tallying wi th thecards of only one of the four hands, it will be sufficient to have onlyone of the groups of card positions provided with the vertical or sideslots. Another way of tallying the -tricks when all four ofthe groupsof-card positions are provided with the side falling out in ordinaryhandling of the game board, even when the board is turned so that theexposed portions of the cards shall extend downward from the slots inwhich they are inserted. To this end, in the form of board shown inFigs. 1 to 3, the holding slots 15 and 16 are cut slantingly through theleather or other material-of which the face of the board is formed, suchleather or other materialV being of suiicient thickness and body tosecurely hold a card which is inserted through the slot and beneath theface sheet. The face sheet or sheets 13 are pasted or otherwise securedto the back boards 1l about the portions marked for card positions andadjacent to the slots as indicated at the points a in order to hold theface sheet closely to the back, so that when a card is inserted in anyone of the slots it will be frictionally held not only by the opposedfaces ofthe slot but also between the face sheet and the back as shownin enlarged detail Fig. 3, and so also that the card will beu bentatt-he inner edge ofthe slot. The card will thus be held with suiicientsecurity to prevent its falling out of the slot under ordinary handlingof the board, and

-the exposed portion of the card will lie over the part of the face ofthe board marked as the card position and will stand out fromcthe faceof the board at an angle so as to be readily grasped for removal fromthe slot.

T he length of the slots will best be such as of each board section asto provide suiiicient space for the reception of the wedge shaped endsof the groups when they are placed in the inner line of said slots.

Pockets 20 formed by a band or bands set in slots in the face sheet ofthe board, or otherwise formed, are shown for holding the cards not inuse; and the board is also preferably provided with a pocket or holdingband 21 for holding slipsor cuttings show ing problems to be worked out,and With a memorandum sheet 22.

Figs. 4, Sand 6 show a construction diiering in some respects from `theboards shown in Figs. 1 to 3 and embodying additional features of theinvention. The board as shown in these figures has the four groups ofcard positions each with four series of card-holding slots 15 as before,but to avoid removing, turning and replacing the cards to show whichcards have been played, play ing slots may be cut straight through theindicators are provided for covering or partially covering the cardswhich are to be considered as having been played. Such play indicatorsare preferably made in the form of small cards 35 having wedge-shapedlower ends for insertion in slots provided for them in the board in suchposition with relation to th'e caigd positions that a play indicatorinserted in a slot corresponding to a card position having a card inplace will lie over and cover or partially cover the card, and the playindicator cards are of such a character either by being made oftransparent material or by being so shaped as not to completely coverthe cards over which they are placed, as to leave the characters on'theface of the card or a sufficient part thereof visible` Slots 36 forholding these play indicators are provided adjacent to and below thecardholding slots 15. As

'cate the successive tricks.

shown, the slot-.S36 are centered relatively to the slots 15 andthe playindicators have their yupper or exposed portions cut away from one sideso that when. placed in the slots over the cards they will cover theright hand portion of the'cards, leaving the suit symbol and the` cardvalue symbol of the cards sufficiently exposed to permit the card to bereadily identified. To provide for tallying the tricks, side slots 37are also pro-4 vided, one for each card holding position, so

that the play indicators may beplaced in y either the bottom slots 36 orthe sideslots 37 to shoverwhich partners took the trick, and, ifdesired, to indicate in the manner pointed -out in connection with Figs.1 to 3 which individual hand took the trick. f In order that the playmay be more fully indicated, the play indicators are marked in/sets offour indicators each with numbers to indi- Eight such sets of playindicators numbered from 1 to 8 will usually be sufficient for cardproblems, but a larger number of sets or the full number of thirteensets may be provided if desired. The board as shown is providedwithpockets 38 for holding the play indicators when not in use, each pocketbeing supposed to holda set of four indicators. When the slots 36 and 37and the indicators 35l are i provided for showing the cards played andtallying the tricks, the side card holding pockets 16 are of course notneeded. The board as shown in Fig. et is also provided with individualcard holding slots 39 for holding the cards when not in use, these'slots being preferably arranged as shown in f o'ur horizontal rowsextending across the board and close together, each horizontal row forholding the cards of a single suit. As shown in Figs. 4, 5 and' 6, also,the leather or-other material forming the face of the board may be andpreferably will be of less thickness than in the construction shown inFigs, 1, 2 and 3, and the card-holdsheet or at a less angle than asshown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, the cards being preferably formed or providedwith means to insure their being held in the slots. The cardholdingslots 15 are also made with a central enlargement 40 for the purpose ofreceiving the small end of the card which is to be inserted in the slotand thereby enabling the ployed together if desired. The notches 41 willbe located so as to stand in the slot when -the card has been insertedto the desired position, and the width of the card at the notches andthe length of the slots will be such that the card Will have to beslightly forced to bring the notched portion into the slot so that Whena card has been so inserted it will be held against accidentaldisplacement. lVhen the cards are formed With holding projections orbosses 42, as shown in Figs. l0 and 11, the projection Will be locatedso that when the card has been inserted in the slot and pushed into thedesired position the projection will have been carried just beyond theunder edge of the slot, as shown in Fig. 6, and will then serve to holdthe card from falling out of the slot. lt is to be understoodthat theinvention in its broader aspects is not to be limited to the precisearrangements shown of the groups of card positions and card holdingslots or other card holding pockets which might be provided or to theexact constructions of the board or form of the cards as shown, but thatit includes changes and modifications thereof Within the claims.

W'hat is claimed is 1. A playing card game board having its playing facemarked to indicate card positions arranged in four groups each of Whichgroups has a plurality of card positions for each of the four cardsuits, and having card holding devices for holding cards in place at thevarious card positions.

2. A playing card game board having its playing face marked to indicatecard positions arranged in four groups each of which groups has aplurality of card positions for each of the four card suits, and havinga card-holding slot for each card position.

3. A playing card game board having its playing face marked to indicatecard positions arranged in four groups each of which groups has aplurality of card positions for each of the four card suits, and havingak heard-holding slot for each card position,

and a slot for each card position for holding.

a play indicator.

4. A playing card game board having its playing surface provided Withcard holding devices arranged in four groups each of which groups has aplurality of card-holding devices for each of the four card suits.

5. A playing card game board having its playing surface provided Withcard-holding slots arranged in four groups, the slots of each groupbeing arranged in four rows, one for each card suit, and each rowcomprising a plurality of slots.

6. A playing card game board comprising `two parts connected to foldtogether, and

having its playing surface provided with 55 card-holding slots arrangedin four groups,

the slots of each group being arranged '1n four rows, one for each cardsuit, and each row containing a plurality v of slots, thel groups ofslots being arranged with two opposite groups for receiving cardsrepre-l senting the hands of the opponent partners arranged one near thetop and one near the bottom of the board, the slots forming each ofthese two latter groups being divided into two sub-groups, one sub-groupbeing placed on each side of the fold lineof the board.

' 7. A card game board having its playing face provided with horizontalcard-holding slots arranged in groups, and a vertical tallying slotadjacent to each of said horizontal slots of one or more of said groups.

8. A card game board having its" playing face provided With horizontalcard-holding slots for the cards in play, and a slot"adja cent to eachof said card-'holding slots for holding a play indicator. i f

9. A card game board having its playing face provided with horizontalcard-holding slots arranged in groups, and a horizontal slot adjacent toeach of said card-holding slots for holding play indicators, and avertical tallying slot adjacent to each of said card-holding slots ofone or more of said groups for holding play indicators.

10. A card game board having its playing surface provided with groups ofcard-holding slots for the cards to be played, and

liaving individual card-holding slots forcards not in use, saidcard-holding slots for cards not in use being arranged in rows, one rowfor the cards of each suit.

ll. A playing card game apparatus comprising a game board havingcard-holding slots arranged in four groups each of which groups has aseries of slots for each of the four card suits, and a set of cardsformed to be inserted in the holding slots and having their exposedportions marked to represent the cards of a full deck of playing cards,and means for indicating cards which have been played.

12. A card gaine apparatus comprising a game board having means forholding cards arranged in groups according to thehands to be played, andplay indicators to extend over the cards which have been played andformed to leave the face of the cards indicated as played sulicientlyvisible to permit the card to be readily identified.

13'. A playing card game apparatus comprising a game board havingcard-holding slots for the cards to be played, and having play indicatorholding slots adjacent to and parallel with the card-holding slots andother play indicator holding slots adjacent to the card-holding slotsbut transverse thereto, and play indicators formed to be inserted in theplay indicator slots to extend over cards inserted in the card holdingslots to indicate cards Which have been played and to show the Winningcards according as they are 'inserted in either the slots which areparallel to o1' transverse to the cardholding slots.

14. A card game apparatus comprising a game board having card-holdingdevices for the cards to be played, and play indicators to be insertedin slots in the board to eX- tend over the cards which have been played,saidplay indicators being marked in sets with numbers to show thesuccessive tricks.

15.- A card gameapparatus comprising a game board having card holdingslots for the cards to be played, and cards formed to be inserted insaid slots, and formed with means to hold them in the slots againstaccidental displacement.

16. Cards for use on game boards having card holding slots said cardsbeing formed with tapered ends to be inserted in the slots of the gameboard and provided with notched edges to hold the cards in the slotsagainst accidental displacement.

'In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand., in the presence oftwo s11bsoribing Witnesses.

' BANCROFT G. BRAINE.

Witnesses HOWARD F. EDMoNs'roNE,

ALEX. CHAPMAN.

